So what are we looking at? Well, in the five days after its launch (which is to say, from its launch on Wednesday until Sunday or possibly Monday), the modestly-specced, inexpensive tablet has accumulated over a quarter of a million pre-orders.

Now, comparing the Fire to the iPad in features and specs is a bad idea, but comparing sales numbers at the very least gives you an idea of scale. The iPad 2 sold 2.5 million or so in its first month, which works out to something like 80,000 per day on average. The Fire is a bit below that at ~50,000 per day, but compare that with other non-iPad tablets and I think you’ll find the Fire is putting on an impressive show.

More impressive than its e-ink counterparts, perhaps: the new e-readers don’t seem to be flying off the shelves just yet. It’s possible that Amazon swung too late, what with Barnes and Noble and Kobo already having snatched up a lot of the “advanced e-reader” crowd. According to the same source at Amazon, the Kindle Touch sold ~32,000 units (Wifi and 3G) during those same five days. I’m certainly not saying that’s a poor showing, but it is a little pokey.

If you’re on the fence about whether to try out Amazon’s small wonder or buy large with the iPad 2, just hang on for a few: we’ll have our full review up as soon as we’ve spent some time with the device, and hopefully we can make your holiday shopping a little simpler. In the meantime you can check out our hands-on here.

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OverviewAmazon is an e-commerce retailer formed originally to provide consumers with products in two segments. It offers users with merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers.
Operating in North American and International markets, Amazon provides its services through websites such as amazon.com and amazon.ca. It also enables authors, musicians, filmmakers, …